Principles of Sustainability and Living Sustainability
The concept of sustainability refers to an approach by which there is attainment of an appropriate balance among the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. Sustainability or sustainable development is primarily that sort of development which satisfies the present needs, without comprising the needs of the future generations. Sustainability focus on the approach which makes the people, business and other entities to take use of the natural resources in such a way that there takes place no scarcity of threes resources for the consumption of the future generations (Schmuck and Schultz, 2012). In past few decades, sustainability and sustainable living has become the “catchphrase” of both business and academic world. Sustainability has been a vital part in last decades in offices of public relations, corporations, boardrooms of local authorities, syllabuses of Faculties and academic papers. More than a practicable approach, sustainability has become a trendy concept in academics and theory (Ihlen and Roper, 2014). The following paper will offer the views of several authors in context with sustainability living, its aspects and future moves as well as innovations for achieving increased amount of sustainability.
Living sustainability is a well discussed subject in the literature which explains the approach where human lifestyle tries to lessen the usage amount of the natural resources of the earth by the society and the individual. There is an attempt by which there can be declined carbon footprint by the means of restructuring the methods of diet, consumption, energy and transportation (Eriksen, et al., 2011). There are few principles of sustainability which supports the sustainability living approach. The authors have focused upon six major principles; the first principle is contributing towards the building up of a sustainable society both in present and in the coming future. The second key principle is application of the responsible and professional judgement as well as taking a leadership role for achieving sustainable operations (Elliott, 2012). The third main principle of sustainability is doing high efforts and innovation in the field of sustainability more than the one which are complied with codes and regulations. The next principle of sustainability is using the resources in a most efficient and effective manner so that there is least wastages and maximum utilization (Dresner, 2008). The fifth principle of sustainability is to seek numerous ways for solving the challenges of sustainability so that there can be effective application sustainable operations. The last principle of sustainability is managing the risks for minimizing the negative impact over the environment, the society and the individuals (engc, 2010).
Aspects of Sustainable Living
In the vast literature, theorists and authors have discussed various aspects of sustainable living which comprises of housing, food, water, energy and economics. In the papers, there has been a diverse study of all these aspects. According to the author, sustainable living have its primary focus on water as it is the most prime and basic need for every individual for living. The unsustainable water use has numerous negative impacts for humankind. Presently, the individuals or the humans take use about one-fourth of the total fresh water present on the earth. With the increase in the world’s population, the need for the fresh water will ultimately increase (Beck and Walker, 2013). Therefore, it is very much essential that there is efficient and effective use of water. In the sustainability living, there are numerous ways and measures by which the wastage and over consumption of water can be reduced. These measures comprises of awareness regarding the daily use of water, outdoor water usage and efficiency in the indoor home appliance. Authors have also laid high emphasis upon various ways by which waters can be sustained and the future generations can be saved from the eater scarcity issues. There are techniques such as rainwater harvesting; another strategy is cycle run water pumps, under this practice, there is saving up of costs and time as well as fuel. By the means of pedalling a cycle by the humans, the water is lifted from the wells, canals, ponds and streams. With a continuous motion in the water, there is a pressure which is formed that outlets the flow of the water (Specht, et al., 2011).
Some authors have laid their focus on the sustainability aspect of food. Food is also the second most basic need of living beings without which there is no life possible on planet. In the researches, it has been identified that, food solely accounts for around a percentage between 70 to 48 of the overall household environmental impacts over the resources like water and land respectively because of the increasing consumption of the processed food products, dairy products and meat. There is vast industrial agricultural production across the globe which is extremely energy intensive as well as extensively resourced. There is an extensive requirement of continual inputs, intense monoculture production, exhaustive tillage, fertilizers, high pesticides and heavy irrigation. And because of all these factors, there are increased environmental stresses which are deteriorating the environment and the sustainability. The pout comes of these factors are ecological concerns, loss of biodiversity, high land degradation, chemical runoff and reducing water tables (Reisch, Eberle and Lorek, 2013). The authors have stated the primary issues related to food sustainability such as because of the long distance transport as well as the distribution of the conventional food, there takes place high exhaustion of energy and resources. There are increasing concerns which are related to the carbon emissions, depletion of the natural resources because of long distance transportation, consumption of oil, exhaustion of fossil fuels, etc. To have a sustainable living in aspect of food, it is vital that the individuals must purchase the food products seasonally as well as locally. There is reduction in the carbon output if the individuals purchase food from the regional farmers rather than the supermarkets or conventional stores. In various studies, an extended focus is paid upon the industrial meat production which comprises of increased environmental costs for example depletion of natural resources i.e. land and water, soil erosion and land degradation. There is increased level of methane in the environment due to the vast production of meat which is highly waning for the environmental sustainability (Pruss-Ustun, 2008).
Relevant Innovations to Ensure Sustainability
There are several innovations which takes place on a continuous basis for achieving high levels of sustainability. the business organisation, government and other institutions are bringing new and innovative ways by which there can be reduce the negative impacts upon the environment and therefore a more sustainable living concept can be regulate across the globe (Smith, Voß and Grin, 2010). For ensuring future and long-term sustainability, there are several innovations which have been highlighted by several authors such as at the time of planning a garden space or a yard, there is increasing use of drought resistant grasses, plants and shrubs as they require very squat amount of water in contrast with the normally planted species (Basu, Banerjee and Sweeny, 2013). This is one of the innovative ways to reduce the consumption of water and maintaining foliage. The next innovation is of nanotechnology in filtration. There has been revealed in several researches that there are around millions of people which die every year because of the unsafe drinking water (Diallo and Brinker, 2011). To solve such issues and have increase sustainability, there is a new technological innovation of taking use of nanotechnology for filtering the water. With the help of the nanotechnology in filtration, there is removal of bacteria and other microbes so that there can be safe and fresh water availability for the individuals (Henley, 2013). Next innovation is the “film farming”, this technique takes use of a film like component which reduced the usage of water by 90 percent and there is no use of soil for the purpose of farming (springwise, 2012). There is also no need of any kind of pesticides as there are no virus mad bacteria. Thus, this technological innovation is one of the most helpful innovative practices for achieving higher sustainability. There are also past innovations like water sequestrations, organic farming, etc. (Westley, et al., 2011).
Conclusion
The extensive amount of literature on sustainability and sustainable living has offered various dimensions which show the importance of sustainability in the present scenario for accomplishing the present needs without compromising the future requirements. From the paper, there has been gathered information regarding the various sustainability principles which are required to be followed for having a sustainable environment across the globe. There are various aspects of sustainability living which have been focused upon. After analysing the literature on the key aspects of sustainability i.e. water and food, kit ah been evaluated that there is an extensive need for managing the business and personal practices for saving water and having adequate food consumption. The paper has also identified numerous innovative ways by which there can be achieve higher suitability and increased sustainable development. In the future, there is probability that all the organisations will work on the aspects of sustainability and numerous innovations will serve their significant role in achieving a completely sustained business environment.
References
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